In this section are copies of original works of art. All of them are
dedicated to helping us live according to unconditional love and compassion,
which is the foundation of our peaceful means of bringing true and lasting peace
to all of God's creatures, whether they are human beings or other animals.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus)

(Artwork - 023)
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
(Sphyrapicus)

This is a detail (somewhat altered to block out conflicting figures) from a
large, composite painting I did illustrating the sapsuckers, a genus
(Sphyrapicus) of woodpeckers mostly endemic to North America, including, as
migrants, Mexico and the northern West Indies The species shown here, the
Yellow-bellied, has a very wide range, from the Yukon east as far as
Newfoundland and south, as a breeding species, into the northern U.S. They
migrate south in the fall, and return in April, many of then nesting in
northern boreal forests.

Sapsuckers are famous for drilling rows of holes in sap-bearing trees, and
then eating the sap. They don’t “suck” it, but dab it with their long
tongues which have modified tips, like miniature brushes, that the sap
adheres to. They will also sometimes visit feeders with sugar water set up
for hummingbirds and orioles.

They are extremely variable in their pattern. In this painting I have shown
an immature female (top), an adult male in breeding plumage (left) and an
adult female in breeding plumage (right). The adult female I used as a model
had very little red on top of her head; some have quite a bit more, some
have none. In all plumages there is a quite large white wing patch, usually
easy to see on the closed wing, and conspicuous in flight. Acrylic on
compressed hardboard.

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